Playing up or down a man was a deciding factor for the Rockland Nationals as they took on the Kemptville and Nepean this past week, making the difference between a win against the Raiders and a loss against the 73’s.
On Wednesday, October 25, the Nationals journeyed down to Kemptville to play the 73’s, now ranked fourth in the conference and second in the Robinson division on 18 points. Though the Nats opened the scoring early in the first thanks to a second-minute goal from Assistant Captain Mathieu Paquin, Kemptville responded with four of their own back-to-back goals, two on powerplays and one shorthanded, over a 14-minute space.
Kemptville dominated the period with 16 shots on goal to the Nats 11. Alex Kelloway brought one back for the Nats in the dwindling seconds of the first period, however, his first of the season.
Just ten shots on net between the two teams made for a scoreless second period, but the 73’s came out firing in the third, racking up 15 shots on the Nats net, compared to Rockland’s six. Despite this, it was the Nats Samuel Dumont who would light the lamp for the last time of the game on a powerplay, making the final score 4-3 for Kemptville.
Nats over Raiders
Looking to rally on Friday, October 27, the Nats came out hard against the Raiders at home. Xavier Laurent opened the scoring in the first followed by two from Samuel Dumont within two minutes of each other as he capitalized on the Nats powerplay advantage at the 14-minute mark.
Mathieu Fillion, continuing the Nats good graces, put away another and gave the home team a 4-0 lead just over 25 minutes into the game. Nepean, however, responded in the second thanks to a powerplay goal, followed by another even-sided goal before the period was over.
In the third, Trystan-Félix Tremblay put the final nail in the coffin for the Nats by scoring his fifth of the season and the final goal of the game.
Goals for all in Nats vs Canadians
The Nats faced the Carleton Place Canadians in a high-flying tit-for-tat game on Wednesday night, October 31, swapping goals until the final moments when Tremblay earned his sixth and seventh goal of the season. Anthony Hall, Guillaume Labre, Matthew Verspeeten made their way on to the scoresheet with one goal each. Both Hall and Tremblay put points up capitalizing on yet another powerplay advantage.
The Nats play the Kemptville 73’s again Friday, November 3, followed by the Hawkesbury Hawks on the following Sunday.
